Pool Opening: Semi BBB Method

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D

Del Bondo

0
Jun 4, 2013
9
Cincinnati, OH
Hello all,
I'm finally getting around to opening my pool. I plan to use the BBB method, but I cant be home daily to monitor and add what is needed. Also I have TriChlor pucks left over from last year that I plan to use as my daily chlorination. I will shock with bleach.
Reading the Guide for Seasonal/Temp Pools, what would be the best way to proceed for opening the pool? Use bleach for daily shock, then add Stabilizer or sue the Dichlor for daily shock, then continue to use trichlor for daily chlorination? All of this would be for the first 5 days.
 
Del Bondo:

Welcome to TFP! :wave:

Del Bondo said:
I plan to use the BBB method, but I cant be home daily to monitor and add what is needed.
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Does this mean you are not home during the day but are home at night, or does it mean you travel out of town for several days or more?

Del Bondo said:
...what would be the best way to proceed for opening the pool? Use bleach for daily shock, then add Stabilizer or sue the Dichlor for daily shock, then continue to use trichlor for daily chlorination? All of this would be for the first 5 days.
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Before doing anything, you need a good Test Kit. Without that, you will not know the appropriate dosages and targets to aim for. I would make ordering a test kit Job 1 and order it today. Bleach is all you need for chlorination purposes. While you are waiting for your test kit, I would suggest reading all Pool School articles, but would start with these: ABC's of Pool Water Chemistry, Basic Pool Care Schedule, Recommended Pool Chemicals, How to Chlorinate Your Pool, Chlorine CYA Chart, Shocking Your Pool. When you need a break from that, I would remove any debris from your pool, skimmer baskets, and pump filter screen.

A couple of housekeeping items: Please put the city and state (or country) in which you live in your profile or in your text. Also, please post information about your pool in your sig. Both items are important to the advice you receive. Here's how to do both: What we need to know to answer your questions.
 
Thanks so much for responding. Any advice is well appreciated as I tend to pass what I know along to my neighbors with pools.
I have ordered my test kit, Taylor K2006 (here in about a week). I've been reading the forums for quite awhile now and finally joined. Its time to put principle to practice. But to me, it is not clear for someone, me, on how to apply the BBB method for someone using trichlor pucks (leftover from last year), especially during to opening process. Adding the 1 lb bags of chlorine to shock the pool and raise CYA during the opening process.
Typically the pool looks good but not very easy on the eyes and the numbers are well managed, but the eyes. Lol

I'm assuming using bleach to shock daily will do the trick, then add stabilizer, then use trichlor for daily chlorinization and bleach to shock as needed.
I plan on using this route because my job requires me to be gone for a day then home for 2 on a rotating basis and I cant always monitor the levels as needed.
 
You don't understand the difference between "shock" or shocking yet. It is a process, and only needed when needed, not a daily or weekly or monthly or for a lot yearly process if pool is maintained correctly.
 
:wave: Welcome to TFP!!! :wave:

To add, the opening "process" depends on what your current levels are. You can not buy a bunch of random bags of stuff to "open the pool". You have to know what is in the water and based on that know what needs to be adjusted.

From this point on ... lets see if you can not use the word "shock" again to refer to a bag of something or to refer to a one time addition of some chlorine (as it just confuses everyone involved) ... around here we talk about the Shocking Your Pool PROCESS.
 
OK Thanks for the input. I'm sure I understand shocking and shock, although I may use the term generically according to what Im used to doing/saying.

My real question is, according to my levels, (assuming fc - 0, cya - 0, ph - low, since I'm still filling the pool), how to proceed with adding CYA and chlorine for opening purposes? I think I will add chorine to a level of 6, then add stabilizer to maintain proper chlorine levels.

I apologize if my questions do not truly relay what I want to know.
 
Since the pH is already too low, adding any dichlor or trichlor would not be a good idea. In fact, step 1 should really be to add some borax to raise the ph if it is in fact low (post the pH and TA test results).

Then get some about 30ppm of CYA dissolving in a sock and add about 2ppm of FC until the CYA has dissolved, then raise the FC up to shock level and complete the shock process.
 

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Yeah but it was redder than 8.2. So what I've done so far was got the PH down to 7.0. Now Im gonna raise the TA which will raise the PH also, or Am I mistaken? The pool is still green (mesh safety cover). So while waiting for the PH to adjust I brushed the walls and will continue to do so.I will now add baking soda to increase the ALK with the assumption the PH will rise as well.

Wish me luck.
 
Del Bondo said:
Yeah but it was redder than 8.2. So what I've done so far was got the PH down to 7.0. Now Im gonna raise the TA which will raise the PH also, or Am I mistaken? The pool is still green (mesh safety cover). So while waiting for the PH to adjust I brushed the walls and will continue to do so.I will now add baking soda to increase the ALK with the assumption the PH will rise as well.

Wish me luck.
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If you use poolcalculator, down near the bottom you can see effects of adding chemicals. If you have your pool size entered up at the top, after it tells you how much baking soda to add to adjust pH, go down and enter that in the effects and it will approximate how much pH will rise.

And what's semi-BBB? That's like semi-kosher or semi-vegetarian. :scratch:
 
I don't recommend it but I've never used an expensive pool test kit, I've always used strips and I've never had any issues whatsoever. Did the same thing this year and the pool is clearing up nicely although I need to add more baking soda to get it perfect. I always get grief here for stating this but whatever. If it works, it works. About the only thing I need to do different is get a leaf net to make it easier when opening the pool. Still way to darn cold here in the Northeast. I use the pucks and do not have any CYA level issues (yet).
 
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